There is no doubt that music has been a powerful weapon in arsenal of man in the passing of time. Of course, judging from a lot of popular songs today, it would seem that the weapon of music has been lost and replaced with a paper mache replica.
In any case, music may have an underlying message, but a good deal of the songs that we listen to as a society are about as substantial as my self-esteem after a run-in with a particularly cold shower.
Here are, in my mind, the top five examples of bands that have reached stardom by taking this into account, and capitalizing on it.
1. AC/DC
AC/DC is, perhaps, one of the most universally liked rock bands, ever. Angus Young's guitar riffs are probably the greatest examples of those that border hard rock, while still maintaining a welcoming enough sound for the mainstream audience. Anyone who's ever gone to one of their concerts, however, will probably agree that it is nearly impossible to hear exactly what lead singer, Brian Johnson is singing. Yet, at the same time everyone and their grandmother still knows how "You Shook Me All Night Long" goes, though they may not know the name of the song because they couldn't quite make it out.
2. Lil' Wayne
To be honest, it's not very hard to hear what this guy is saying most of the time. Most rappers, including Wayne, are pretty blunt. However, even though a good deal of people in his target audience (white suburban teenagers) know his songs by heart, most of them don't actually listen to what he's saying.
Recently, I saw a concert of his on my campus and as the hook started to blare for one of his songs, "Money on My Mind," comedy ensued when a good deal of the audience sang along with the chorus: "Get Money, Fuck Bitches." Apparently, the guy in front me was ignorant of the fact that his girlfriend was not so supportive of this message. This seemed to be a common occurrence, as the chant in Memroial Gymnasium quickly became a murmur.
3. Don McLean (You know... "American Pie"?)
If you've lived in the US for any significant amount of time, or even if you haven't, you've probably heard the song "American Pie." You might even know the lyrics, too.
Of course, no one really knows what it all means. Judging by this, the song has a lot more to it than your average campfire song. With all that reading involved to even form a hypothesis of the song's meaning, a lot of folks might just watch the movie instead.
4. Nickelback
To say that this band has nothing redeeming about it, whatsoever, would probably be the closest thing I can offer to a positive review of the group. However, without digging too deeply into my bag of hatred for this clusterfuck of noise, I will still say that their lyrics are the written equivalent of having Goatse (no link here, thank you) scorched into your retina for a month-long period. They are as almost as unexplainable they are terrible.
5. The Beatles!
I hate putting The Beatles in the same list as Nickelback, and I've been told that it could possibly cause some kind of a black hole to open up in the center of the Earth. However, when you're on acid while writing your songs, sometimes coherence takes a back seat to excellence. Well maybe not always excellence, but it worked for these guys, right? Goo Goo Ga Joob!
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Strawberry Fields Forever!
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